The question of rhetorical agency in scientific communication: A case study

Abstract

Though rhetorical scholars have argued that scientific inquiry does not lack human agency, our knowledge of how agency is enacted in scientific texts is blurred. Using abstracts from the American Journal of Bioethics, this paper argues and demonstrates how our understanding of rhetorical agency can be enhanced through the neglected theory of tagmemics. Intended as a heuristic, the paper argues that contributors to the American Journal of Bioethics are capable of constructing individual responsible agency that is in tandem with rhetorical choices they make within their community of consensus.